Boston Celtics: B/R predicts an intriguing shakeup in opening day lineup

With Kemba Walker out for opening-day, Bleacher Report predicts the Boston Celtics will go with Jeff Teague at the point in their starting lineup.

With opening day just a mere 12 days away, the Boston Celtics will be spending their time in between prepping for the highly-anticipated matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks and reigning league MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Though perhaps not at full strength coming into the year, as reports all indicate All-Star point guard Kemba Walker will be sidelined for at least the first month of the season, Brad Stevens is flush with enough assets on the roster to mitigate the impact of his loss until he returns.

Because of this, the team has numerous ways in which they could go about tweaking the lineup in his absence. We here at the Houdini have even managed to put a reletively positive spin on an otherwise gloomy situation, as we’ve discussed a few different players who could even wind up benefiting from Walker’s hiatus.

With this predicament, however, it is up to coach Stevens to put in place a suitable starting lineup for the Cs to enter the season with and, according to Bleacher Report, they believe the best option for the team would be to thrust newly signed veteran floor general, Jeff Teague, into the first-five rotation.

Writer Mo Dakhil went on to cite their propensity to play small as a reason for inserting Teague into the starting lineup:

"The more likely route for the Celtics is starting Jeff Teague in place of Walker and bumping Williams out of the opening lineup. The Celtics played with a small lineup all of last season, and they don’t have much reason to change it.Depth was already going to be an issue for the Celtics this season, but they have just enough to survive until Walker returns."

Dakhil also went on to state that other possibilities of bringing in Grant Williams as the starting power forward or having Tristan Thompson play the five (assuming he’s healthy to start the season) and sliding Daniel Theis up to the four could also be on the table but, in the end, believes that the old quote of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rings true in regard to their small-ball strategy.